in the vineyard, to be entitled to the wages; we must "strive to enter in at the strait gate," and press forward to obtain eternal life.

2. Not only is diligence required in obtaining the knowledge, but productiveness is also necessary in practising it. "Nor unfruitful." This is the evidence that the tree is healthy and in good condition. The tree may be a figtree of the right sort, but unless it bears fruit it is useless and cursed. It is not sufficient that it bears no evil fruit, but it must bear good fruit, or it shall be "hewn down and cast into the fire." Christ represents Himself as the vine, and His people as the branches. He says of them, "Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh away and every branch that beareth fruit he purgeth it, that it may bear more fruit." The fruit is to be holiness, or a full consecration of ourselves to His service. In our respective spheres He has placed our work before us. Those in the higher spheres have more enlarged opportunities of bearing fruit, and have heavier tasks to perform, whilst those in the lower spheres should strive to obtain the commendation of the woman in the Gospel, "She hath done what she could." None of us are to live for ourselves, but for the promotion of God's glory, and the good of others. All our energies are to be taxed in fulfilling the end of our membership, and thus we shall not be unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

III. We have to notice the means for promoting the duty of diligence and fruitfulness: "If these things be in you, and abound." What things? Why, the things mentioned in the preceding verses, which include the various graces of the Gospel to be realised and exercised by every true follower of Christ. And besides this, "Giving all diligence, add to your faith, virtue; and to virtue, knowledge; and to knowledge, temperance; and to temperance, patience; and to patience, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, charity." Those are the ornaments which

adorn the Christian profession, the gems which impart a value to our religion which the world of time cannot purchase, and the world of eternity cannot estimate. They are a series of graces which inhabit the same heart, a train of connected actions which influence the same life.

1. These things are to be in you. The seat of religion is in the heart. The graces of the Holy Spirit are implanted in the soul of the believer. The germ and root of every virtue which adorns the Christian character is within; God "requires truth in the inward parts." The King's daughter, or the Church, is all glorious within. Christ knew the Jews that they had not the love of God in them. St. Paul tells the Corinthians," And by their prayers for you, which long after you for the exceeding grace of God in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." The profession of the Gospel without these indwelling graces is like a body without a soul, or like a machine without the inward acting power.

2. These things are to abound. "Faith without works is dead." Elisha prayed for a double portion of Elijah's spirit. We ought not to be satisfied with a low degree of grace. The man of ambition is not satisfied with an ordinary reputation for acquirement, he will not rest with being equal with others, he wishes to excel all in the line of his profession. There is a holy ambition that Christians should possess, which is, to excel in all divine graces. They should "abound in everything." Their love should "abound more and more in knowledge and in all judgment." Rooted and built up in Him, and established in the faith, abounding therein with thanksgiving. "For if these things be in you, and abound, they shall make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." Therefore, my beloved brethren, "be ye stedfast and immoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord; forasmuch as ye know, that your labour shall not be in vain in the Lord."

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The Fourth Sunday after Easter.

MORNING SERVICE.-Second Lesson: Acts xxvi.

Verse 18.-" To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me."

ST. PAUL was well adapted for the position which he occupied. He bore all the evidences of having been divinely appointed to his office. Men often rush into professions and situations for which they were not intended, and for which they are by no means qualified. In such cases they do more harm than good, often making an honourable profession the subject of ridicule, and making themselves degraded in the estimation of God and men. This involves incalculable evils in temporal transactions; but of inconceivably more serious consequences in spiritual things. If you consider the case of a sovereign, or of a prime minister, or of a member of Parliament, or of a judge, or of a physician, or even of an ordinary commercial clerk taking upon himself a position for which he is not qualified, who can tell the confusion and losses occasioned by such intrusion? Then think of the office of the sacred ministry, which includes in itself the happiness of two worlds, regarding the interests of the soul as well as those of the body, how awfully has that man mistaken his profession who intrudes into it without the necessary fitness. The very names by which the ministers of the Gospel are called show that the duty as well as the dignity of their office is of the utmost importance. To intimate their holiness they are called "men of God;" to intimate their vigilance they are called "watchmen;" to intimate their courage they are called "soldiers;" to intimate their care of the flock they

are called "shepherds;" to intimate their industry they are called "husbandmen;" to intimate their patience they are called "fishermen;" to intimate their tenderness they are called "nurses; to intimate their faithfulness they are called "stewards;" to intimate their dignity they are called "ambassadors." It is a high and honourable office, one which Christ Himself did not despise.

Paul could produce his credentials even before King Agrippa to prove his due qualification for his high office. This he does in the few words contained in the text, and the two preceding verses. The Lord, he declares, said unto him, "But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee; delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me."

The text introduces to our notice truths of the deepest interest and of the most vital consequences, which we shall consider under the three following heads; First, The threefold mission of Gospel ministers; Secondly, The happy results of the mission in connexion with the faithful discharge of the duty; Thirdly, The instrument by which the result is effected.

I. The threefold mission of Gospel ministers.

"To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God." This comprehends the production of sight, of light, and of liberty, shewing that the people and Gentiles referred to here, who include the whole of mankind, are blind, in darkness, and in slavery.

1. We are taught here that the state of nature is a state of blindness. "To open their eyes."

One part of our Saviour's work upon earth was the 66 recovery of sight to the blind." Not merely the physically blind, but the blind of heart and understanding. The mission which He had received He transmitted to His ministers, that they also might be the instruments to enlighten the understanding of those who knew not God. "The god of this world hath blinded the minds of those which believe not, lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine therein." The object of the Gospel is to "destroy the works of the devil," which is done by infusing the knowledge of God and of Christ into the heart. The tendency of the apostle's teaching, like that of his great Master, was to open the eyes of the ignorant that they might see God in the majesty of His justice and holiness, and in the glory of His love and mercy -that they might see themselves in the depravity of their nature, and in the extent of their wants-that they might see sin in the depth of its wickedness, and in the destructiveness of its tendency—that they might see the law in the purity of its precepts, and in the minuteness of its requirements-that they might see Christ in the excellency of His character and work, and in the adaptation of His power to save that they might see the world to come in the reality of its existence, and in the boundlessness of its duration. To effect all this the Gospel must be preached, as it was by Christ and His apostles, in all clearness and simplicity, “Not with enticing words of men's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit, and of power." The former may be indeed, like painted glass, more imposing and costly, but the latter, like common glass, is clearer and most useful; something that you may see through, and through which the enlightening rays of the "sun of righteousness" may penetrate.

2. Another part of the mission is to "turn from darkness to light." It is useless to open a man's eyes if he be still left in a dark chamber where not a beam of light can penetrate. It is not sufficient to know God, and His Son, and His law, and His Gospel theoretically, without being brought